Beverage product dispensing systems, such as beverage or drink dispensers, usually have supply containers of liquid beverage components that are fluid coupled through fluid flow paths to dispense valves located at stations where the beverage components are to be dispensed as drinks for service to customers. The beverage components may comprise beverage concentrates or syrups and one or more diluents, such as plain and/or carbonated water, for mixture with the concentrates or syrups to provide a desired beverage. The beverage components are normally chilled, so that drinks drawn for customers are sufficiently cold and not degraded in quality by excessive melting of ice. Chilling of the beverage components can be accomplished in any suitable manner, such as by refrigerating an interior of a cabinet in which supplies of beverage components are stored or by flowing the beverage components through a cold plate before they are delivered to a dispense point. The supplies of beverage components can be located near or relatively far from the dispenser. They can be located in a lower part of the dispenser, in which case pumps can be used to deliver beverage components from the supplies and through flow paths to dispense points, such as to individual ones of a plurality of beverage dispensing valves. One such beverage dispenser having dispense valves for being fluid coupled to supplies of liquid beverage components is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,532, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. Other types of drink dispensers include smoothie machines.
Upon replacing a depleted supply container of a beverage component, cleaning and sanitizing of the flow path between the container and point of dispense is normally required, particularly if one type of beverage component is being replaced with another type. Cleaning and sanitizing the flow paths may also be required if the beverage dispenser is to be moved from one location to another, and in any event it is required to be performed on a regular basis, usually weekly, for health and sanitation reasons. With conventional beverage dispensing systems, the cleaning and sanitizing operation is normally a tedious and time consuming process.